{"id":5838,"date":"2016-02-29T01:48:45","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T01:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/?p=5838"},"modified":"2025-08-10T19:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:18:02","slug":"connected-arms-torso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/connected-arms-torso\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilates Connected Arms & Torso"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”400725″]I sit writing this after completion of an amazing private session with Brett<\/a> on the barrels on Sunday, Part 2 of a workshop with Blossom<\/a> on Friday, and with my mind set for participation in #MarchMatness2016 on Tuesday.\u00a0 Lots of images, lots of media and lots of Pilates to share.There are just too, too much too many ‘takeaways’ to enumerate, yet I will try to share a few gold nuggets I found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My intention is to put the work from Blossom’s workshop to immediate use in the appropriate mat practice posts for #MarchMatness2016, thereby using the month to make good on my own promise of daily Pilates practice and hopefully, maybe soon, be able to look half as good<\/em> as Blossom did in demonstration.
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\nThe workshop featured so much creativity from the genius and spirit of Kathy Grant and the expertise of Blossom Leilani Crawford<\/strong>, a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 thereof and master teacher in her own right, that it had to be broken down into two parts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Breaking down the\u00a0connectedness of our arms, shoulders\u00a0and\u00a0torso and all the joints, facia, complexity of movement and myriads of \u00a0exercises that are used through the method, on the mat and all the apparatus, is how we spent our time at “play” in the work. \u00a0I will be integrating these Pilates training<\/strong> golden nuggets for sometime to come.<\/p>\n

What’s Happening on The Inside<\/h3>\n

What’s happening on the inside<\/em> and how it reflects itself on the outside<\/em> is one phrase Blossom used that caused me to think deeper, dig deeper and find the oppositional work the movements.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a phrase she used to setup an exercise. I first heard it from her with\u00a0one of the\u00a0KSG cat postures, so while it wasn’t stated as such, I believe it came from Kathy.\u00a0 Clearly, it is the way to approach every exercise. Setting up the engagement of the powerhouse, whether it’s a zipper, a belt, a corset or vest that you visualize using to wrap that stuff ‘in and up.”<\/p>\n

For in the absence of the inside setup, the outer mirror of that engagement will likely fall apart and fail to hold up to three breaths of scrutiny. ‘What’s happening on the outside’ will not be so pretty without the inside initiation. \u00a0The framing of the connection – as if it is a private conversation with yourself – was a good nugget.<\/p>\n

Using External Resistance<\/span><\/h3>\n

Love, love, LOVED the use of toys, tools and external resistance such as ankle weights, balls, hand weights, the weighted bar, etc on the ‘outside’ to challenge, fire up and recruit the use of ‘inside’ body to work deeper and more fully. Kathy was a big proponent of tools and I almost felt like I was now ‘given permission’ to more fully explore the method with students and the use of the external resistance ‘toys and tools.’<\/p>\n

In fact, turns out Joseph Pilates created a pair of weighted inserts for ballet slipper shoes through which all the mat work was performed. The weights were at least 1\/4 inch thick and felt like 8-10 pounds! They definitely assisted one in finding the ‘oppositional resistance’ with a roll up, but performing teaser or jackknife with the shoes was another feat to be mastered.<\/p>\n